On November 14, 2023 TriSalus Life Sciences Inc., (Nasdaq: TLSI), a publicly traded oncology company integrating its novel delivery technology with immunotherapy to transform treatment for patients with liver and pancreatic tumors, reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023, and provided a business update (Press release, TriSalus Life Sciences, NOV 14, 2023, View Source [SID1234637675]).

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"Today marks an important milestone for TriSalus as we host our first quarterly earnings call as a public company. I am proud of our team’s considerable progress in the commercialization of the TriNav Infusion System, our Pressure Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) method, which achieved $5.2 million in revenues in the quarter, up over 30% from the third quarter of 2022," said Mary Szela, Chief Executive Officer of TriSalus. "We remain focused on integrating the TriNav system with immunotherapy to transform treatment for patients with liver and pancreatic tumors by solving two main barriers to tumor treatment in the tumor microenvironment (TME): mechanical barriers that limit drug delivery and biological barriers to driving immunosuppression."

"Data from our three Phase 1/1b trials indicates that our innovative immunotherapy approach for liver and pancreas tumors has been well tolerated, with evidence of SD-101 being delivered into difficult to reach tumors, potentially overcoming limitations posed by intravenous or direct needle injection approaches. The mechanical and biologic TME barriers that TriSalus is targeting are commonly present in solid tumors, creating a significant opportunity to impact a large patient population across cancer types," commented Steven Katz, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Officer of TriSalus.

Third Quarter 2023 and Subsequent Highlights

PERIO-01 Phase 1 Data Selected for Late Breaking Podium Presentation at the 2023 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting

In November, TriSalus announced that SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) had selected the PERIO-01 Phase 1 data for a late breaking podium presentation and participation in the press conference of its 2023 annual meeting. The data demonstrated that delivery of SD-101 by TriNav plus systemic immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) in uveal melanoma with liver metastases (UMLM) patients results in clinical activity with median progression free survival (PFS) of 11.7 months, myeloid derived suppressor cell (MDSC) re-programming, and evidence of peripheral and intra-tumoral immune activation.

PERIO-03 Phase 1 Initial Safety and Feasibility Data Selected for Poster Presentation at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting

In November, the company presented data on its PERIO-03 Phase 1 clinical trial on pressure enabled intra-pancreatic delivery of SD-101 with checkpoint blockade for locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The data demonstrated that TriNav pancreatic retrograde venous infusions (PRVI) of SD-101 were well tolerated in the initial three patients and infusions were associated with potentially favorable immune changes in the periphery and tumors. These findings support continuing with single-agent dose escalation and subsequent combination with systemic ICI.

The PERIO-03 Phase 1 study with single-agent SD-101 is expected to be completed at the end of 2023 with subsequent initiation of the Phase 1b PERIO-03 dose expansion beginning early 2024. In the expansion study, intravenous anti-PD-1 therapy will be added to SD-101 delivered by PEDD. The trial will target patients with unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who failed or progressed on at least one line of standard therapy.

Jodi Devlin appointed as President, Commercial Operations

In September, TriSalus announced that Jodi Devlin was appointed as President, Commercial Operations. Ms. Devlin joined TriSalus with more than two decades of experience in building brands in a wide range of therapeutic areas, with expertise in developing and executing strategies across sales, marketing, medical affairs, market access, and policy for biotech and pharmaceutical products.

Financial Results

Revenue, all of which is from the sale of TriNav, was $5.2 million and $12.8 million, respectively, in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023. These amounts represent growth vs. prior year of 32% in the third quarter and 39% for nine months year to date, primarily due to continued market share increases.

Gross margins were 89% in the third quarter ended September 30, 2023, and 84% for nine months year to date versus 82% and 84%, respectively, in the third quarter and year to date in 2022. The seven percent improvement in the third quarter of 2023 is due to increased factory volumes and improved operations efficiency.

Operating losses are $18.5 million and $40.0 million, respectively, for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2023. These amounts include non-recurring professional service fee costs of $4.8 million in the quarter and $7.7 million year to date, primarily related to the completion of our deSPAC process in August 2023. These amounts compare to prior year losses of $8.1 million and $24.7 million, respectively. The Company increased investments in 2023 in R&D to support clinical program progress and in sales and marketing, primarily to expand its sales force to continue to increase market penetration.

Net losses attributable to common stockholders are $1.7 million and $27.0 million, respectively, for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2023. These amounts compare to prior year losses of $8.1 million and $24.6 million, respectively. Net losses include the impact of a non-cash related gain on revaluation of contingent earnout liabilities of $19.9 million in the third quarter and nine-month period of 2023. In addition, net losses include the impact of non-cash related gains/(losses) associated with revaluation of tranche and warrant liabilities of ($2.8) million and $0.7 million, respectively, for the third quarter and nine-month period ending September 30, 2023. The nine-month period ending September 30, 2023 also includes a non-cash related loss on equity issuance of $4.2 million.

Basic and diluted loss per share for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, was $0.13 and $5.68, respectively, compared to a basic and diluted loss per share of $25.95 and $82.17 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively.

Conference Call

The event will be webcast live on the investor relations section of TriSalus’ website at View Source Following the conclusion of the event, a webcast replay will be available on the website for approximately 90 days. Interested parties participating by phone will need to register using this online form. After registering for the webcast, dial-in details will be provided in an auto-generated e-mail containing a link to the conference phone number along with a personal pin.